Net-Zero Energy Districts and the Grid: An Energy-Economic Feasibility Case-Study of the National Western Center in Denver, CO, USA

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This research is to quantify and optimize the economic cost and grid independence of a net-zero energy district using the National Western Center (NWC) in Denver, CO, USA as a case study. The research mothod is appropriate, the data analysis is credible. The research conclusion need to be further improved by data supported, and the conclusion should be further refined to clear. It is suggested to publish it after a few modification.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript “Net-Zero Energy Districts and the Grid: An Economic Feasibility Case-Study” provides an interesting economic analysis about different scenarios that can be used to achieve a net-zero energy district at the National Western Center (NWC) in Denver. The manuscript is well written and organized in a logical manner, and can be recommended for publication after the following points have been addressed.

• The contents of the appendix may be good (although details should be given to go along with the figures), but they are not referred to in proper manner in the manuscript. The reader is left to “see supplementary table for details”. Every time the authors refer to the supplementary section (e.g. lines [275], [292] [301-302], [316-317], [520] and others) the reader must hunt through the appendix to figure out which table or figure matches the description. And some figures and tables in the appendix require some additional text to explain what they are. The authors should state the specific Table or Figure being referred to in the appendix and provide more details in the appendix.
• The authors should comment on what effects energy losses during storage would have on the results presented throughout the manuscript.

Other minor comments:

• [120] “to generate” is repeated.
  • [145] quantitative value for the solar resource could be given.
  • [154] should be m² instead of m2 (this typo also appears at other points in the manuscript).
• A lengthy description is given in the caption of Figure 5, but it is not explicitly stated what sub figures (a) and (b) are.
• The conclusion should be Section 4 rather than Section 5.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

1. Specify the title e.g. "Net-Zero Energy Districts and the Grid: An Energy-Economic Feasibility Case-Study of Denver <...> CO, USA"
2. Provide, please, in the main text the technical-logical scheme of the research object(s) (energy sources connected to each other and buildings).
3. Conclusions may provide more exact/main results/numbers of the research.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf